Editorial: Time to rethink county overtime

Potter County officials will have to work overtime to determine the effectiveness of the county’s overtime policy — an ironic situation, but one that needs to be addressed.

During Monday’s meeting of the commissioners court, Potter County Election Administrator Knoxie Mathes approached commissioners about approving about 250 hours of overtime each for two employees who racked up the hours during the recent election.

Commissioners balked — and instead recommended forming a committee to look at the county’s overtime policy, which permits 100 hours of overtime pay for each employee into the next fiscal year.

The committee, which includes Human Resources Director Kay Holland, Commissioner H.R. Kelly, Mathes and representatives from Facility Maintenance, Information Technology and the County Attorney’s Office, faces the problem of adequately paying county employees for work performed while also making sure departments are adequately staffed related to employee compensatory time.

The county’s election administration consists of four employees — three full-time employees and a part-time employee.

There’s little debate that the employees earned overtime pay — for the Nov. 6 election, Potter County had more than 52,000 registered voters divided into 24 precincts.

“We’ve had this happen before, especially during an election year,” Mathes said. “I understand their reasoning behind forming a committee.”

In certain situations, comp-time is not a realistic option — and the election season falls into that category.

Other county departments face similar comp-time restrictions, such as the Road and Bridge Department during inclement weather and the Fire-Rescue Department during wildfire season.

The committee should approve overtime pay for the two employees in the election administration department — the county has already paid overtime for information technology employees related to the restoration of the county courthouse.

The committee also should determine why overtime pay that exceeds county policy continues to be an issue — and if that policy meets the needs of the county and its residents.